And It's Another Craft Fail...

Source: The V Spot

I thought this was the CUTEST idea ever!  I have an old typography style globe that I picked up last year at a garage sale for $3.  I love having it around the house and I had it up in the house for my 'back to school' decorations but adding it to my Halloween decor seemed too good to be true!

Well, it was.

Egad!  What a mess!  I bought some 'removable' glue dots and went to town... until the ribbon corners/edges started getting caught up in the metal frame as I was spinning the globe to add the next section of ribbon.  So, I got out my trusty 'blue painters tape' (I swear, this stuff is ALL over my house....) and tried to tape down the corners/edges to keep them from catching.  DID NOT WORK AT ALL.  The ribbons just never seemed tight enough, everything just caught up in the frame as it spinned and finally - I decided it was just time to give up.  :(

Globe - 1, Amy - 0

Oh well.... I've had a lot of DIY successes lately so I suppose it's not too awful that this one didn't work out!  My excuse?  That my globe had the bumps of the typography.  ;)  Yep, that's my story!

Halloween Pillow Covers

Scrolling through Pinterest recently, I came across a pin for this:

Source: The New Home Ec

I was really hoping to make some simple slip covers for the pillows I keep on our couch and love seat and was most inspired by this one:

Source: Someday Crafts Blog

I used the template she had but it printed out super small so instead I free-handed my skeleton and bones.  I cut them out of white felt by using a fabric marker to draw the outline.  Rather than embroider the felt skeleton pieces onto my pillow piece, I machine embroidered it using orange thread.  

After that, I decided to make use of some fabric strips I had in my stash.  I made them into ruffles then pinned and sewed them onto pillow pieces as well.  

I'm happy with how everything worked out!  The ruffle pillow covers aren't perfect and I'm realizing the black fabric is tough.  We have a golden/lab mix dog and his hair shows up!  With a 3 year old and a 1 year old it seems like our throw pillows are CONSTANTLY on the floor whether I want them to be or not.  ;)

Pumpkin Candlestick Decorations

This was a FUN project and I am super thrilled with the final result!  While at Hobby Lobby awhile back, I saw some really cute decorations:

Cute, huh?  But the price just didn't seem as cute.  So, I set out to recreate them in my 'own way'.  I personally think mine turned out even better!

I LOVE spray paint!  These guys were a very mis-matched group of misfits when I purchased them at Hobby Lobby!  The one on the far left was clear glass, second to the left was silver and the two on the right were wood!  I spray painted them all glossy black and then added a little black glitter to the wooden ones.  

My Punkins.... also purchased at HB

This sad guy on the right needed some glitz and glitter to 'fit in with the right crowd' so I gave him some sparkle!

with some spray adhesive and pretty orange glitter

and added some gold glitter glue to his stem

I picked the WORST time to glitter!  It was super windy so now there is a fine coating of orange glitter all over our back patio... oops!  :)

Now this guy fits in!  I did spray some clear coat spray paint over the top so the orange glitter wouldn't shed so much.... we'll see if it works!

The assembly:

Not sure why I didn't take a pic - but I cut two scalloped edge circles out of black felt and hot glued them together (the one on top is a bit smaller).  Next I hot glued this fringed crepe paper around the base twice.

to get this!  (See the scalloped circles?  NOPE - not even close to perfect...) 

then I added some of that awesome fringe to the base of one of the punkins

to get this!   

then I glued it all together!  Candlestick to scalloped circles to fringed punkin!

for another of the candlesticks I added a ruffled flower and for a bit more stability I also glued a square of black felt.  What it ended up looking like:

This guy also got a ruffle base as well as a jaunty little burlap flower 'hat'!

and my glittery guy?  He got some fringe and worked perfectly on the shorter candlestick

I'll do a post soon on my Halloween mantle so you can see how they look 'in their natural habitat' soon!

Custom Owl For An Owl Themed Nursery

Owls are in!  Haven't you heard?  :)

A local friend asked me to do a custom owl for her.  A friend of hers was/is having a baby and picked the cutest owl themed bedding from Target:

Source: Target


So I made this little guy:

and here's a look at the little guy in the nursery - so cute!

I think this little guy is RIGHT at home!  :)

Holiday Decor For A Friend

Last Spring, a good friend here in FL asked me to make some holiday decorations for her home.  It was right around Valentine's Day (wow - guess it was last WINTER, then?) so I was able to make her some garland, a wreath and a bunch of other great things.  Soon after, I did some Easter decorations (another wreath, candy containers, etc.) and then a HUGE space of time went by.... summer and not many holidays but now with Fall I was able to make her a few more items.  

She's hosting a baby shower brunch next weekend for some lovely ladies and wanted some more autumnal items to dress up her home.  I was able to put together a really gorgeous golden yellow yarn wreath similair to one she'd found on Pinterest as well as some book pumpkins.

Here's a look at how they turned out:

The inspiration behind the wreath was initially spotted in this cute Etsy shop:thechicadeeshop

My version!  I used a more square wreath form to get the larger size wreath since my friend's front door is big.  Then, I wrapped with a golden yellow yarn and added fabric & button flowers!  Some of the fabric flower parts are made with fabrics I had in my stash but the more home decor/tweedy fabrics were ones I found 50% in the JoAnne's remnant section!  :)

next up, book pumpkins!  I purchased these books for a $1 a piece at the Dollar Store and then added some green ribbon.  I told my friend to maybe swap out the green for orange - for some reason they're reminding more of apples!  ;)

It was such a huge compliment for my friend to like how my home was decorated enough to ask me to make some items for her.  :)  

Have you done any DIY Fall decorating this year?